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Day 20: Cranberry Mince Meat

Today's post for Day 20 in my series "A Month of Autumn Wartime Recipes & Food" is exciting! I came across this recipe for Cranberry Mince Meat in my Alice Bradley Menu-Cook-Book, ca. 1944.

I really like mincemeat, especially around Christmas time. I've only ever had the version without meat and from a jar. It's so sad! I really need to make my own one of these days. I guess it's just hard finding all the candied fruits without any crazy dyes or high fructose corn syrup and stuff in them.

Anyway, when I saw this recipe, I was intrigued, because I've never seen a variation that used cranberries! This version is also interesting, because it doesn't call for any fat like suet (which is kidney fat and not the same as lard), and none of the fruit is candied. It doesn't look like you cook the whole thing either, just the cranberries. Odd! It reminds me almost of a relish. The seeded raisins would give it an interesting crunch too!

This is definitely worth a try, I think, and it's a very different alternative to regular cranberry sauce. I wonder what you're supposed to do with it, though. Eat is as a side or use it as a garnish? Make it into little tarts like you can with regular mincemeat? I guess it's up to you!

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It's here!!! The Wartime Rationing Menu Challenge has finally arrived!
Are you as thrilled as I am? I've been working steadily on this project for two months - trying out test recipes, choosing menus for the next six months, typing everything up, formatting and getting it ready to share. It's been a lot of work, but I'm so excited to share these recipes with you all. It's been hard not to get cooking already!
So, are you ready?

First up, I want to put in a disclaimer. I'm starting this ration menu challenge, and I'm going to follow it the best I can, but I'm just like you - busy with life and all the little moments of chaos that come up when they're the least expected. This isn't a hardcore challenge. Remember that it's for fun, for learning about a cool era of historical cooking in America, and to get yourself into your kitchen trying out some new recipes! If you find some fabulous new favorites, even better.

Grapefruit
Cooked Cereal
Fluffy Omelet
Whole Wheat Toast
Coffee/Malted Milk
I kept it mostly the same with only a few changes due to what we had on hand:
Orange slices
Cooked 10-grain cereal
Fluffy Omelet
Bread w/ a bit of butter
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Yum! It was a nice breakfast, especially since it wasn't just cold cereal. To make the fluffy omelet, I didn't follow a recipe. I just added some milk to the scrambled eggs which makes it fluffy as it slowly cooks. And I sprinkled a bit of cheese on top.

LUNCH
The lunch menu was quite lovely! We actually had it for a light supper.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Berry Patch Salad
Toasted Muffins
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I stuck to this menu, and used a recipe for the soup from one of my wartime cookbooks. It used a mixture of milk and evaporated milk. I used up some light …

If ever there was a myth about history it would be this: Things were dirt cheap back then.

Were they really?
And this is where I rub my hands together and cackle with geeky glee. Just like we shouldn't judge our ancestors solely based on current standards and social norms, we shouldn't judge prices of yesteryear by today's dollar value.

I'll give you some examples.

(And don't worry. I'm not going to get super technical or get all crazy on the math, because Math is not my strongest subject. I'll fully admit I got my math-savvy husband to help me remember the equations I learned from my college economics class.)

I was looking in one of my Health-for-Victory meal planning guide from 1943. They stated that if you followed their meal plan, you could expect to spend between $14 - $16 a week on groceries. You're probably thinking, WOW! I'd love to pay $14/week for groceries! But what's the value of 1943's $14 in our current year of 2015?